PLATE XIV
THE ASPEN
“Variable as the shade
By the light, quivering aspen made.”
—Scott.
The Aspen (1) is a member of the Poplar family, and in many ways it resembles its cousins. But you will always know an Aspen tree by its leaves (2). These are never still unless when a storm is brooding and the air is perfectly calm; at all other times they shake and quiver incessantly, and you can hear the gentle rustle they make as each leaf rubs against its neighbour. In the Scottish Highlands the country people tell you that the Aspen trembles because at the Crucifixion the cross of Christ was made of Aspen, and the tree must always shudder at the recollection of the cruel purpose it served.